Polish B1 certification exam

The structure of the Polish B1 certification exam

The exam is divided into 5 parts (listening, text-comprehension, grammar, writing and speaking). In the official website of the certification, there’s actually a sample test that you can download. The following are the links

Sample test in PDF
Audio files
Audio transcription and answers

Listening

In this part, recordings will be played and you’ll have to answer multiple choice questions. There are four types of questions you can expect for this part:

1. Short recordings of 5 to 10 seconds are played and for each one of them you have to answer where the conversation has probably happened (hospital, train station, taxi, store, gym…).

Then, slightly longer recordings are played, and based on them you have the following types of questions:

2. Multiple choices.
3. True or false.
4. Fill in the gaps.

In questions of type 1, the audio is played only once. Between the recordings, they give you a certain interval to answer the question before they play the next recording. In the other types of question, the audio is played twice.

Text comprehension

The type of questions in this part is quite similar to the listening part. But now, instead of the recordings, you’ll have either short or long texts to read and then answer the questions.

There’s one type of question in this section that you won’t find in the listening part. Some short pieces of text are given to you and you have to order them correctly.

Grammar

Here you’ll face questions that will evaluate your understanding of declensions, prepositions, verb conjugation and so forth. Since this is B1 level, you don’t need to be the wizard of declension, but you need to know your way around the basic declension cases.

Writing

This is the last part of the first day. Here, you’ll have to solve two tasks:

1. Write a short piece of text. This is usually around 35 words and it can be a formal/informal invitation, congratulation, birthday wish, postal card, rental ads, etc.
2. In the second task, you’ll have to write a longer text around 160 words. Again there are different types of topics, such as best vacations you have ever had, your life in Poland, one hard day you had, etc.

In this part, there’ll be 3 sets of question that you can choose from. Each set will have a task of type 1 and a task of type 2. You have to choose the set you want and then you write the texts accordingly. For example:

• Set A:

1. Write a letter inviting your babcia for your birthday (35 words)
2. Describe the best vacations you ever had (160 words)

• Set B:

1. Write a rental ad for your apartment (30 words)
2. How is your life in Poland? What are the things you like and dislike about the country? (170)

• Set C:

1. Write a letter with marriage wishes for a couple of friends (40 words)
2. Tell us about a hard day you had and how you handled it (160 words)

Note that it’s not possible to mix the sets, i.e. you can not choose the task 1 from set A and the task 2 from set C.

Speaking

On the 2nd day is the speaking exam. In this part, you’ll have to do 3 tasks:

1. Describe a picture with details (How do the people look like? How are they dressed? How is the location where the picture was taken? Are they happy or sad?). Sample case: there was an old couple talking to a tour guide who was holding a map on his hands.
2. Express your opinion on a certain topic (monologue). Sample case: talk about objects that I could not live without. 
3. Simulate a conversation with one of the evaluators. Sample case: Call a bakery and order a cake for the birthday of a colleague.

The speaking test can take only 30 minutes. They’ll be evaluating your fluency, grammar, vocabulary, etc.

Exam fees

Exams are payable, but the fees are set by each of the examination centers (authorized entities), without exceeding the maximum amount for the exam at a given level of proficiency, as specified by the legislator:

• 90 € - A1-B2 exams for children and youth,
• 120 € - levels A1, A2 in the group of adults,
• 150 € - level B1, B2 in the adult group,
• 180 € - level C1, C2 in the adult group.

The fee for issuing the certificate is the PLN equivalent of EUR 20.